I've had a long (relatively speaking) love affair with the theatre. I was trained as a dancer, but the theatre stole me away... That led to all sorts of mischief, and resulted in a commitment not to commit to one discipline.

But, you are in Philadephia? Did I spell that right?! What is community like for you there? Diverse, or no? Flourishing, or no? I am curious.. I've never been and there are not too many bloggers (who admit it anyway) that I've come across in the industry...

OK! so theatre is alive and well in Philly. Actually I meant "community" as in "group of people" but it looks to me there is a thriving community one way or another.

In the states, something like a "small professional theatre" isn't considered non-profit anymore? they actually make profits in the "market place"?

This is a rarity up here. Big musical theatre co's, music ind, and film. That's pretty it for the relationship between common commerce & the arts... beyond in-kind donations and sponsorship deals. we either go indie or we have charitable status or we go home.

Happy to help -- if I can help in any way. I thought I might have rambled way off course and answered the wrong question.

Small Professional Theater, as far as I can tell so far, is different from non-profits in that:

(1) They are in a different category for purchasing performance rights (you are either non-profit or pro ... no middle ground).

(2) Pro outfits, size notwithstanding, get preferred treatment from the distributers -- in terms of getting the shows they want, when they want them. They also pay more per performance for those rights.

(3) The designation of "Small Professional Theater" dictates that a certain number of roles must go to Equity actors, and an Equity stage manager must be on hand as well. There are other Equity rules and such to follow for auditions, rehearsal, etc. But I won't go into listing all that.

As far as making money is concerned, there are a number of revenue streams to help with the costs and such (donations, sponsorships, grants, etc.). Heck, even membership on the board of directors carries a financial committment.

Oh, and none of that is unique to SPT, as our theater was already pursuing those things well before the shift.

the distinction between 'pro' and everything else is usually refered to as 'community theatre' up here tho. equity a,b,c houses describe size of companies and pay scale rates. the use of and need for grants indicates a non profit /charitable status.... i suspect things operate in a similar way, from what you describe. unless grants are coming from the private sector?

this distributors bit. i'm not sure what that means. here, artistic directors simply pick their scripts for the season (paid for of course) and the only thing that might get in the way is cost or decision of the author/agent to restrict access (usually due to a touring contract in process, and this happens only in rather unique cases - and most often in musical theatre). then again, i'd wager that musical theatre is much more popular and prevailent in the states than in canuckinstan here.